{"id":19753,"date":"2014-08-04T19:45:18","date_gmt":"2014-08-05T02:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=19753"},"modified":"2014-08-04T19:58:22","modified_gmt":"2014-08-05T02:58:22","slug":"seoul-diary-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2014\/08\/04\/seoul-diary-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Seoul Diary, 2014: Josh White and Documenting my Personal Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo
Photo by Cindy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After being in Vietnam for about a month and a half, I am currently here in Seoul, Korea for a week. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m primarily here on holiday, and wanted to have a chance to see my grandmother, some family, and some close friends here. In the spirit of my \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Saigon diary\u00e2\u20ac\u009d series\u00e2\u20ac\u201c I wanted to share some personal reflections about my trip so far:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Last time in Korea<\/h2>\n
\"Jan
Jan 13, 2012<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The last time I did any workshops here was 2 years ago, a street photography workshop with Josh White<\/a> and Leica. It was a ton of fun, and I was quite proud to teach the workshop in both Korean and English. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a full-blooded Korean-American, which means I was born in the states, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m fluent in both Korean and English. Except my Korean isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t perfect, and has a really strong American accent. I was quite ashamed of this for a long time, but nowadays it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really bother me anymore. At the end of the day I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m provably 80% American and only 20% Korean in terms of my world view and my personality.<\/p>\n

Anyways this year I was going to do another workshop with Josh again, but unfortunately there wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t enough interest. So instead we decided to cancel it.<\/p>\n

Free workshop in Korea<\/h2>\n
\"Translating
Translating Josh’s presentation from Korean to English (my Korean isn’t great, but good enough)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I thought it was a shame to not do anything while here\u00e2\u20ac\u201c so I offered a free street photography workshop to a select few people. Leica Korea invited some VIP people, and Josh and I invited some friends and close people we met.<\/p>\n

\"Sharing
Sharing the stories behind my “Grandfather<\/a>” series.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 1-day free workshop was exciting. Josh and I both shared our experiences in street photography\u00e2\u20ac\u201c and it was much more about sharing our personal journeys in street photography rather than being instructional and technical.<\/p>\n

\"L1000959_ez\"<\/p>\n

What Josh White taught me on being personal<\/h2>\n
\"Josh
Josh taking a photo of me in a restaurant<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One thing Josh has taught me is that it is so important to be personal with your street photography. I think I often come off too much as trying to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153teach\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and share information with others. I often forget to share my own personal experiences, and what I personally want to get out of street photography.<\/p>\n

\"The
The portrait Josh shot of me.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What really inspires me about Josh and his work is how personal it is. He said something during the workshop which really touched me: He no longer cares much about photographing strangers in the streets. Rather, he prefers to photograph his close friends and family.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Recently Josh went back and deleted every photo he has ever taken, and thrown out tons of negatives. He only ended up keeping 20 or so photos. Most of the photos he ended up keeping had some personal significance to him\u00e2\u20ac\u201c and most of them ended up being photos of friends and family.<\/p>\n

\"One
One of my favorite photos from Josh.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is what Josh said about this photograph on Flickr<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

By now, I suppose most people have heard the news of the ship filled with high school students that sank yesterday while on route to Jeju Island. As I type this some 290 people, most of which are just high school students are still missing.<\/p>\n

Hearing about this yesterday and thinking about it last night really brought back a lot of different memories. My own father, drowned, albeit under different circumstances. Still, I remember the feeling after hearing about what happened to him and how hard it was to imagine his life ending like that. A lot of news agencies are really focusing on the messages the students were sending to loved ones once they knew they were in trouble. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve often wondered about my father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s last thoughts. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve often wished I could have gotten such a message.<\/p>\n

The photo above is from Jeju Island, the Spring of 2010. After my dad passed I was told it was the background of his desktop at home. He had a sticky note on his computer that was to remind him to remind me to take him there some day.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As tenuous as these connections may seem, they did well enough to bring back a lot of emotions for me. I met someone whom has a cousin on the boat and I really wanted to say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I know what you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re feeling.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The words are cheap, and said far too often without much thought. I remember people often saying them to me and my reaction more often than not telling them to fuck off. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think anyone understood.<\/p>\n

I hope they find more people and the rescue effort has some success. The hardest part is waiting.<\/p>\n

I remember that well.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Which made him realize, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why am I wasting all this time photographing strangers who I have no personal connection with, and who I really don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know? Why don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t I turn inwards, and photograph the people closest to me. When I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m about to die on my deathbed, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not going to care about photos of strangers I took. Rather, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to care about the photos I took of those closest to me.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Josh inspired me greatly during his talk, and also through conversations we have had over coffee and beer.<\/p>\n

\"Me
Me writing Korean into Josh’s hand<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Josh has inspired me to become a bit more personal with my work. With my writing, with my photography\u00e2\u20ac\u201c and with my life.<\/p>\n

Josh told me how he felt that through my blog and writing, he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really get a sense of who I was as a person. He knows me in real life, and knows I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a quite friendly and outgoing guy. He also knows my personality quite well, and the impetus which drives my writing and work\u00e2\u20ac\u201cwhich is to help others.<\/p>\n

\"R0101353\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But he told me also that my photography isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t very personal. It is mostly outwards looking, rather than inwards looking.<\/p>\n

I totally agree with him. Unlike him, I approach street photography from a more disconnected perspective. I see myself as more of a sociologist with\u00c2\u00a0a camera, rather than an artist or someone who is trying to express his own feelings. I think the direction I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to take my photography is to make it more personal.<\/p>\n

\"Contact
Contact sheet of photos I took of Josh<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One thing that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve really enjoyed writing in my \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Saigon Diary<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d series is sharing my doubts, frustrations, and difficulties. It is quite cathartic and refreshing to write in this personal, free-flowing type of way. While I do highly value sharing information, knowledge, and ideas\u00e2\u20ac\u201c I want to also take my blog in a more personal direction.<\/p>\n

\"R0101369\"<\/p>\n

So moving forward\u00e2\u20ac\u201c I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to try to do some more of these \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Diary\u00e2\u20ac\u009d type of posts. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to try to share the photographers I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thinking about, projects I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thinking about, difficulties in photography I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m having, and people I meet during my travels.<\/p>\n

I also hope one day when I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m 100 years old and on my deathbed, I can go back on these entries and reflect on my life and appreciate it.<\/p>\n

Appreciating friends<\/h2>\n
\"Posing
Posing for the camera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Josh and I are very close friends. No only do we know each other as photographers, we know each other as human beings.<\/p>\n

One thing Josh said in an interview I did with him back in Toronto<\/a> was this (paraphrased): \u00e2\u20ac\u0153At the end of my life, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not going to really care about all these photos I took. Rather, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to value the friends I made along the way, and the fun of the process of making photos.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d You can also see the YouTube video I did with him<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It really struck a chord with me. I also value the friends I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve made through photography more than the photos I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve taken. And to be quite honest, I always put my friendships and personal relationships before my photography.<\/p>\n

My goal in life isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t to become the best photographer.<\/strong> Rather my goal is to be the best teacher I can, to share as much love and knowledge about street photography, to help support the street photography community, and make some meaningful relationships along my life\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s journey.<\/p>\n

\"Thanks
Thanks to Josh for this emotional portrait :)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Spending time with Josh in Korea has been great. We both love good coffee, good food, and good beer. He is someone I can talk openly and freely about photography about. Both of us admittedly geek out about cameras and gear a bit \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but more than that, we love to talk about photography. And because I respect his photography and work, I highly value his critique and feedback of my work.<\/p>\n

Not only that, but Josh is also an amazing writer. Josh\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s blog<\/a> is one of the few that inspire me. I love how open, transparent, and honest his writing is. So he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s greatly inspired me in that regard as well.<\/p>\n

I love having him \u00e2\u20ac\u201c someone who can be open and honest about my work. He is a good friend, yet he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t bullshit me. He gives me brutally honest feedback on my work. I tell him to give me a brutally harsh critique, to help me see my flaws and grows. I carry around my laptop and iPad when I see him, and he has helped me make some editing choices for my \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Saigon diary\u00e2\u20ac\u009d series and also some of my \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Only in America\u00e2\u20ac\u009d series.<\/p>\n

Documenting my life<\/h2>\n
\"Photographing
Photographing the streets of Seoul, photo by Cindy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve also been trying to spend more time to document my own life. I think I often take too many photos of strangers\u00e2\u20ac\u201c and not enough of people close in my life.<\/p>\n

\"R0101261\" \"R0101265\"<\/p>\n

So I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been photographing Cindy a lot more (on color film, Kodak Portra 400) on my film Leica. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve also been taking a lot of photos of my grandma, as she is 79 and who knows when she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to pass away. I want memories to record our good times together.<\/p>\n

One thing I keep remind myself is this: which photos at the end of my life when I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m 100 years old will matter? Will I care about the photo I got 500+ likes on Facebook? Or will I care about photographing those close to me, who were truly meaningful to me?<\/p>\n

I currently have a backlog of 150 rolls of Portra\u00c2\u00a0400 at home. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m quite excited to get them processed, and see what I get.<\/p>\n

Digital vs film thoughts<\/h2>\n

\"R0101294\"<\/p>\n

I finished out my \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Saigon diary\u00e2\u20ac\u009d series, and am still doing the final edits and sequencing. But in the meanwhile, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve switched back to shooting color film.<\/p>\n

I feel that black and white digital was suitable for the mood I wanted to capture in Saigon. Also I took some photos in Vietnam for the Fujifilm Vietnam team, and also wanted to share the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153behind the scenes\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which digital gave me the flexibility to do so.<\/p>\n

As much as I love shooting digital for the convenience\u00e2\u20ac\u201c ultimately nothing gives me more pleasure than shooting film. I love how calm and relaxed shooting film makes me, and how less urgent I feel to download my images and share them online. I also far prefer the look of the colors on color film, versus digital color.<\/p>\n

I think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll still take some snapshots during my trip digitally (to share on this blog and Facebook with my friends and family) but still work in color film for my work in America, for my \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Suits<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d project (which I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m probably going to end soon), and for my personal documentary series.<\/p>\n

Moving forward<\/h2>\n
\"Instax
Instax of Cindy and my grandma (she turns 80 next year)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thanks so much for tuning into this Seoul diary. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll try to write a little more regularly, and share my thoughts in this unedited \u00e2\u20ac\u0153stream of consciousness\u00e2\u20ac\u009d type of way.<\/p>\n

Oops it is 230am, time to hit the sack. Fun touristy stuff in Seoul the next few days, and off to Tokyo on Wednesday. More stuff to come :)<\/p>\n

Follow Josh White<\/strong><\/p>\n